Signed lower right: Tooker

D.C. Moore Gallery, New York, "George Tooker (1920-2011) Memorial Exhibition. Reality Returns as a Dream," June 9-August 5, 2011; D.C. Moore Gallery, New York, "George Tooker Contemplative Gaze: A Selection of Paintings, Drawings, and Prints," September 5-October 5, 2019.

Irma Rudin Fine Art, New York; Private collection, acquired from the above, 1982; Sotheby's, New York, November 29, 2006, lot 54; Private collection, New York, acquired from the above; Heritage Auctions, Dallas, November 17, 2023, lot 67045; Acquired by the present owner from the above.

George Tooker (American, 1920-2011) Tree, 1965 Tempera on panel 20 x 20 inches (50.8 x 50.8 cm) Signed lower right: Tooker PROVENANCE: Irma Rudin Fine Art, New York; Private collection, acquired from the above, 1982; Sotheby's, New York, November 29, 2006, lot 54; Private collection, New York, acquired from the above; Heritage Auctions, Dallas, November 17, 2023, lot 67045; Acquired by the present owner from the above. EXHIBITED: DC Moore Gallery, New York, "George Tooker (1920-2011) Memorial Exhibition, Reality Returns as a Dream," June 9-August 5, 2011; DC Moore Gallery, New York, "George Tooker Contemplative Gaze: A Selection of Paintings, Drawings, and Prints," September 5-October 5, 2019. LITERATURE: T.H. Garver, George Tooker, New York, 1985, pp. 102, 134, illustrated; T.H. Garver, George Tooker, Petaluma, California, 1992, pp. 110, 113, 145, illustrated. Although George Tooker's Tree does not depict urban life, it contains subjects with haunted expressions separated by a central trunk which align with the general isolation that the artist associates with interactions outside of the domestic sphere under the tyranny of modernity. Tooker and his partner, William Christopher, had permanently relocated from Brooklyn to Hartland, Vermont in 1960. Given the artist's earlier depictions of urban environments as oppressive and alienating, one might expect quiet, rural Hartland to have constituted a refreshing respite. Indeed, Tooker remained in Hartland until his death in 2007. However, in the words of Robert Cozzolino, curator of modern art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Tooker's paintings never ceased to oscillate between images of "paradise and purgatory." Compared to such a setting as the Manhattan underground in Subway (1950), the warmly lit, leafy scene beneath a blue sky in Tree seems a relative paradise; Tooker's subjects here have departed Manhattan for an environment more akin to Vermont, yet their expressions are nonetheless more evocative of purgatory. Although the solemn tone of Tree is surprising in the context of its setting, Tooker always saw himself as an open-minded observer. Perpetually prepared to communicate his honest observations on canvas, regardless of whether he might have expected them, Tree is perhaps best understood upon considering the artist's own words; "I don't really think I'm a creator. I feel that I'm a passive vessel, a receptor or translator . . . The fascinating thing about painting is the discovery." HID12401132022 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

Framed under acrylic. Board is mounted to acrylic backing via hook and loop fasteners to the reverse. Faint frame abrasions along the extreme edges. Under UV exam, minor finely applied inpaint along the aforementioned edges and a small 1 inch line of inpaint in the branch at right. Faint 1/2 inch scratch in the woman's forehead, notable under close inspection. Framed Dimensions 28 X 28 Inches